Transparency ACT

For two months, the Puerto Rico Health Insurance Administration has failed to provide public data, such as the number of people covered by the Vital Plan for catastrophic illnesses and special coverage, including cancer.

The agency started turning over the information after a second lawsuit was filed this year over its failure to provide records to the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo.

David McCraw will spotlight escalating threats to press freedom and discuss landmark transparency litigation in the United States and Puerto Rico, in a talk presented by the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo during Sunshine Week.

Without these officials’ email addresses, public records requests could be denied under amendments the governor signed into law as part of the Transparency Act.

VERDICT: FALSE

The process that led Gov. Jenniffer González to sign the Transparency Act amendments on Sunday — a measure proposed by Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz — was not only deceitful but also revealing.

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press warns that the proposed amendments would erode public access to government information and weaken accountability on the island.

The Senate announced late Friday that this week it will bring to a vote a bill that threatens the right to know for all of us who live in Puerto Rico.

This request has reached the court because the government has ignored Eliván Martínez’s petitions, as well as those of the CPI’s executive director, Carla Minet, who requested the Emergency Plan multiple times without receiving a response.